in vitro News and Research

The discovery of pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to differentiate into the huge range of different cell lineages that make up the human body, signaled the start of a new era in biological science and medicine. Although we are also now able to reprogram regular cells to exhibit this pluripotency, we still have much to learn about the different cues that lead such cells towards a particular cell fate, including the cells that make up the eye.

Buruli ulcer - one of the most neglected among the NTDs - is a debilitating and stigmatizing disease. Affecting mainly children in West and Central Africa, the chronic disease results in devastating skin lesions and can lead to permanent disfigurement and long-term disabilities.

A team of investigators led by members of the University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty at CU Anschutz Medical Campus has identified a connection between mucus in the small airways and pulmonary fibrosis.

Estonian scientists have announced the invention of a genetic testing technology that allows the number of clinical biomarkers to be analyzed at the single-molecule level, which enhances the sensitivity of tests in precision medicine and will make them more affordable in future.

Vinorelbine Bitartrate, a semi-synthetic vinca alkaloid was approved by the FDA for breast cancer treatment, as it has been proven to be beneficial for first line of defense and subsequent therapies. But its hydrophilic and thermolabile structure causes hindrance to oral clinical translation.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is an ubiquitous colonizer of healthy human skin, but it is also a notorious source of serious nosocomial infections with indwelling devices and surgical procedures such as hip replacements.

Zhu et al. have reviewed the recent developments in the knowledge about the binding, inhibitory mechanisms and structure-activity relationships of hSERT, hNET and hDAT, which are primary human monoamine transporters hMATs.

To help patients with muscle disorders, scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have engineered a new stem cell line to study the conversion of stem cells into muscle. Findings appeared in Cell Reports.

Neurons are brain cells that communicate with each other by sending electrochemical signals along axons. When a neuron is about to release a signal - in the form of an electric charge - it allows ions to pass through its membrane via ion channels.

An Osaka University-led research team has developed a system for simply and efficiently producing human norovirus. By coaxing human induced pluripotent stem cells to develop into a type of cell that usually lines the intestine, they created a cellular environment that can be used for producing the virus, studying how it interacts with human cells, and investigating potential vaccines.

An international team of researchers led by Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah has developed, calibrated, and validated a novel tool for identifying the genetic changes in Lynch syndrome genes that are likely to be responsible for causing symptoms of the disease.

A research team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in collaboration with the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia, has managed to implement a massive sequencing platform for Preimplantation Genetic Testing for the first time in history.

Zinc oxide has long been recognized as an effective sunscreen agent. However, there have been calls for sunscreens containing ZnO nanoparticles to be banned because of potential toxicity and the need for caution in the absence of safety data in humans.

In a piece of research conducted in collaboration, the NanoBioCel group of the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Pharmacy, and the University of Elche have designed some niosomes, which are lipid vesicles for use in gene therapies designed to treat diseases of the central nervous system.

The bite from a brown recluse spider (Loxosceles) can cause skin necrosis, renal failure, and even death. A new ointment is being tested in Brazil, however. Its effects have already been proven in tests conducted in cell cultures and animal models.

Given this morning's reports of infants possibly born in China whose genomes were edited by CRISPR-based technology, the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) reaffirms the cautious but proactive approach recommended in its 2017 position statement on human germline genome editing, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased significantly over the last decades, creating substantial financial and societal burdens. Due to this, researchers are trying to discover new approaches to the prevention and treatment of these diseases.

2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Fraser Stoddart outlines his research involving mechanically interlocked molecules and molecular machines, and introduces the work of some of the students in his lab, to be discussed at Pittcon 2018.

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